Co-Presenting: The Man Who Stole Banksy @ SFJFF

We're excited to be co-presenting The Man Who Stole Banksy at the 38th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival which runs July 19 – August 5, 2018 throughout the Bay Area. Visit www.sfjff.org or click the link below to learn more about the film and purchase tickets; get a special discount when you use code OWC38 at checkout! We'll see you at SFJFF this summer!

How do we define street art: social commentary, public blight or mere business opportunity? Perhaps all of the above, especially when the artist is Banksy and the canvas is the wall that separates Israel from Palestine. In a 2007 trip to the West Bank, iconic and still anonymous street artist Banksy used the wall to paint “Donkey Documents” an image depicting an Israeli soldier checking a donkey’s ID at a checkpoint. While some viewed the work as satirical political commentary, the citizens of Bethlehem expressed their rage toward what they perceived as a comparison of Palestinians to donkeys. In the midst of the fury over this cultural clash, a local taxi driver and bodybuilder, better known as Walid the Beast, decides to turn this street art into a potential financial endeavor. The plan? Literally cutting out the Banksy art from the wall with an industrial saw and posting it on eBay for the highest bidder to purchase.

As the artwork makes its journey from the chop shops of the Middle East to the auction houses of Western Europe we are brought into the shadowy underworld of a secret art market filled with stolen street art removed from walls around the world. From art dealers to private collectors and even fellow street artists, everyone has a different take on whether this is theft, preservation or strictly commerce. Featuring narration by legendary punk pioneer Iggy Pop, director Marco Proserpio’s provocative feature debut is a rollicking exploration into the dark heart of capitalism. —Joshua Moore